


Here Be Dragons

by Little_Miss_Numbers



Category: due South
Genre: 20 years later, Arctic Exploration, Established Relationship, Fluff, Franklin Expedition, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 07:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Miss_Numbers/pseuds/Little_Miss_Numbers
Summary: It's been 19 years and Ray and Fraser are still looking for the hand of Franklin.





	Here Be Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> This is a quick one shot I wrote for the prompt "Dragons" for the Pillowfort community [Trope Writing Prompts](https://www.pillowfort.social/community/Trope%20Writing%20Prompts/%22). And I liked it enough to post here too. Very much fluff.
> 
> I keep falling down rabbit holes reading up on the Franklin Expedition and all the recent discoveries around it, and it always makes me think about Fraser and Ray.

"To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea."

That had been Fraser's promise when the two of them had run off together after that wild submarine incident. And Ray, in all honesty, had never expected to actually find the guy's body or anything. He'd expected an adventure and maybe a bit of time to get his head together. What he'd gotten was finding himself, almost 20 years later, sitting in a small diner in Gjoa Haven, a small hamlet on King William Island, eating caribou meat and listening to Fraser happily interrogate one of the diver's excavating the HMS Terror on what they've found so far. 

Basically what Ray had gotten was Fraser. He'd gotten 19 years of the two of them, as they traveled to one end of the arctic and back, on dogsled and ski-doos in the winter, by canoe and small bush planes in the summer. And there was a lot of cold winter nights in a too-thin tent and animal fur sleeping bags where Ray discovered that maybe the two of them weren't as much on different pages as Ray had assumed. And Ray had promised to himself, that he didn’t care where he went, or how cold or barren or inhospitable it got, just so long as Fraser was there beside him. 

So it was a fun adventure, exploring the sites of the expedition that were known, mostly a few piles of stones, and looking for graves and ships that would never be found. Just until they got bored, but neither of them ever seemed to get bored. Ray never expected 15 years in that someone would actually find the HMS Erebus. Or that the Terror would be found just two years later. And they hadn't left King William Island since. 

"There's one story from the oral histories we've heard that we think could be about Franklin," Fraser explained to the diver. A young U of Alberta PhD student who seemed just as obsessed with Franklin as Fraser was, and had jumped at the chance at being part of the underwater archeology team. "The Inuit saw a leader buried under flat stones, while the crew was shooting guns. It sounds like a funeral procession for a captain."

"Buried under flat stones, that's not much to go on," pointed out the PhD student. David, Ray thought he said his name was. Or maybe it was Matthew. Something forgettable like that. His lips curled naturally at the end in a way that made him look like he was smiling even when he wasn't. Ray thought it made him look smug.

Fraser shook his head in agreement. "We tried Cape Felix but didn't find anything. We're going to look west, next."

It was hard work looking for a dead captain lost somewhere in the vast wilderness of the Arctic. And Ray could admit if it wasn't for Fraser he probably never would have cared all that much. A bunch of Victorians who had no business being here got themselves killed and caused a bunch of problems for the Netsilik. But Fraser's interests always had a way of turning infectious. And years of finding grave sites and cairns left by these guys, listening to stories and reading up on them, it was hard not to at least be curious. 

"May I borrow your phone?" Fraser asked Matthew--or David. 

Amazing, Ray thought watching Fraser google a local map. When he first got here you had to go to a major city like Yellowknife to have any hope of finding any kind of Internet connection. Now kids were coming up here with it already on their phones. 

"One of the most tragic parts of the Franklin expedition is just how close they came to actually finding the passage," Fraser explained turning the phone sideways to make the map bigger, and tracing the ship's route through the various arctic islands. 

"Here's where we are and here's where Franklin’s ships were found," said Fraser, showing him various places around King William Island. And then dragged the map over just a bit down towards Cambridge Bay, "And from here Franklin had already mapped the coast all the way to Point Turnagain. It was only the Victoria Straight here and the Queen Maud Gulf," he gestured between the two spots, "that was still a mystery to the Victorians."

"Here be dragons," said Ray.

"Essentially yes," Fraser agreed.

"Let's go," said Ray, suddenly feeling bold. "Let's find the northwest passage."

Fraser looked surprised by Ray's eagerness, but Ray at this point had just spent the entire summer on some small hamlet eating local food and sleeping in a bed. He was starting to feel soft. And somehow they'd been so caught up on the finding Franklin part, and exploring the last days of the Franklin crew, they'd never actually made the trek through the last remaining part of the Northwest Passage. 

"OK," said Fraser easily. 

They rented a sled dog team and waited until it was properly winter, which didn't take long at all, before setting out. The ocean froze solid that winter, which also made for easier travel. Plus the provisions Fraser made sure to bring, the tents, and a bit of hunting equipment, and it felt just like those early days. When they'd first set off on this adventure all those years ago with Ray snuggled in with the supplies while Fraser led the dogs. 

Ray wasn't sure exactly where they were, even after Fraser had explained it and tried to show him with the GPS, but he knew they were somewhere in the Queen Maud Gulf. That they were getting close to Point Turnagain. Maybe another few weeks at most. And then they'd make their way to Cambridge Bay for a long rest before deciding on what adventure they wanted next.

They'd set up camp close to shore, and Ray like he always did, went off to explore the area. He'd only made it about a quarter mile when he stopped dead. Looking down in a nearby ravine, clearly visible between the full moon and the reflective snow, he couldn't believe it.

"Fraser! Frase! Come see this! I found a dragon!" yelled Ray. 

Fraser appeared a moment later at Ray's side, eyes following his to the long twisting spine, easily visible in the still shallow snow. 

"I believe that's a whale, Ray," said Fraser, though he was grinning from ear to ear as he said it. The amazing sight wasn’t lost on him.

"Yeah, then what are those two giant horns there at the top then?" asked Ray. 

"Jaw bones," said Fraser easily. "It's a bowhead; it was likely trapped here when the tide receded.”

"No, you're wrong," said Ray shaking his head. "It's a dragon, and you know how I know that? Because we are here in the land of dragons."

"The land of dragons?" asked Fraser, not quite succeeding in hiding his amusement.

"The land of dragons," Ray repeated putting his arms over Fraser's shoulders, "and I'm on top of the world." 

And then he kissed Fraser, long and deep, reminding himself exactly why it was he loved this life so much. 

"That part I believe is accurate," said Fraser, breathless, when they finally pulled apart. 

And then Ray kissed him again.


End file.
